Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Live reporting - Finance Committee - 10/11/11

Present: L Huempher, P Goldsmith, P Messere, S Dewsnap, T Smith, J Roche, C Quinn, M Dufour, B Feldman (late) - J Nutting, J Dacey, S Gagner
Absent:  none

Debbie Pellegri - swore in the committee members present

meeting called to order
meeting being recorded by Franklin Matters

motion to accept minutes of May 2, passed 5-0, 3 abstain
motion to accept minutes of May 3, passed 5-0, 3 abstain
motion to accept minutes of May 5, passed 3-0, 4 abstain
motion to accept minutes of May 9, passed 5-0, 3 abstain

re-organization; to re-elect Chair, Vice Chair and Clerk

Roche, nominated to be Chair - seconded, passed 8-0
Quinn, nominated to be Vice Chair, passed 8-0
Meserve, nominated to be Clark, passed 8-0

Jeff Nutting, Susan Gagner, Jim Dacey - the finance team

B Feldman joined meeting (he got sworn in before coming into the meeting)

$100 million dollar business, call if you have questions
Town Admin submits budget, FinCom makes recommendation, Town Council makes their final decision

Fiscal policies on various matters, one for stabilization fund to be about 5% of budget
getting about 2.5-3 percent interest today, has been more in the past

Jeff provided an overview on the status of the general accounts
"free cash" revenues in excess of those budgeted, and expenses less than those budgeted
averages about 2.7M has been as high as 7M
about 2-3% of budget, it is not free
used for capital budget, some held in reserve (for snow/ice etc.)
don't use free cash to balance the budget

capital budget for recurring expenses like police cars, equipment, etc.

fiscal year, Jul to Jun

Free cash calculated from prior year budget, books closed at June 30th, then certified by State before being used locally

a big chunk is kept for snow/ice, that budget has been bumped up gradually

what gets cut first in the budget, capital?

free cash was used during the 90's to balance the budget, Jeff weaned us off that over 2-3 years after he came in

competing interests with the budget, weigh the choices, is it reasonable and rational?




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